Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

BUILDING A JAZZ LIBRARY March 4, 2021

Zakir Hussain: The Best Jazz/Crossover Albums

Zakir Hussain turns 70 on March 9th. In an unparalleled career, which began in earnest aged 7, the man widely acclaimed as the world's greatest tabla player has played with the giants of both Indian classical music and jazz. It is hard to think of another musician who has straddled both worlds to such a prominent degree. Since the 1970s, Hussain has been at the forefront of so-called World Music, experimenting with Indo-rock in Shanti, pioneering pan-global rhythms ...

MEET THE STAFF March 4, 2021

Meet Jerome Wilson

By AAJ Staff

I currently live in: Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC with my five cats, Chloe, Panther, Donovan, Felicia, and Gabriel. I joined All About Jazz in: 2016 Why did you decide to contribute to All About Jazz? I was a reader and fan of All About Jazz and I admired the eclecticism and global reach of its coverage. I wanted to see if my writing would fit in here. How do you contribute ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 4, 2021

Craig Taborn: Compass Confusion

By Mike Jurkovic

Compass Confusion, the long hoped for return of Craig Taborn's depth defying, solo-gone-quintet from Junk Magic (Thirsty Ear, 2004), climaxes early and often and, however you like to be lured, It pulls you along with a lush velvet hook in your mouth. Reeling it in is a struggle but a blessing. We know that. We get it. CTJM thinks so too. First timers, saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed and bassist ((Erik Fratzke}} are welcomed brotherly into the fold by pianist ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 4, 2021

Christopher Merz's Very Happy Band: While We Wait

By Jack Bowers

Saxophonist Christopher Merz's Very Happy Band is essentially a foursome of like-minded fun-lovers with trombonist Anthony Williams added on two numbers and trumpeter Dave Rezek on one. For the most part, this is happy jazz, eleven original compositions by Merz that underscore the music's sunnier side without sacrificing proficiency or substance. To escape the quartet format's inbred redundancy, Merz interweaves and sustains contrast by moving from tenor saxophone to alto or soprano, and by sharing the front ...

RADIO March 4, 2021

Me So Zorny

By Patrick Burnette

Pat got a four-LP set from John Zorn's Tzadik label and thought an episode catching up with recent events in the Zorniverse might be a good idea. Mike thought the title of this episode was a good idea. Brace yourselves. All four albums feature Zorn the composer, while only one features Zorn the alto saxophonist and only one features a demonically possessed Muppet on vocals. Pop matters reveals that Mike still doesn't like Joanna Newsom and still has mixed feelings ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 4, 2021

Charlie Porter: Hindsight

By Paul Rauch

Portland based trumpeter/composer Charlie Porter is back, and following the trend industry wide over the past year, has released a finely crafted collection of pieces attached to a social narrative. Hindsight examines how we act in hindsight dealing with the long term societal struggles of racism, corruption and inequality. While two of the pieces feature the lyrics of Majid Khaliq and Madelaina Piazza, Porter has namaged to weave the emotional uncertainty of daily life during the Covid-19 pandemic into bittersweet ...

RADIO March 4, 2021

Duos, Vibes, Guitars and Electric Miles

By Bob Osborne

This week fantastic albums featuring duos, extended improvisations influenced by electric period Miles Davis, and, to compliment that some actual electric period Miles, plus new sounds with vibes and guitars. Playlist Chris Alford & Justin Peake “Mullerian Mimicry" from Turning On Our Own Time (Mystic Form Records) 00:00 Gus Garside and Hervé Perez “The Lover" from The Unexpected Visitor (Orbit 577) 04:07 Olie Brice, Binker Golding, Henry Kaiser, N.O. Moore, Eddie Prévost “Door 1 (edit)" from The Secret ...